Summary
Video games and pretty much every other form of media typically present traitors as bad guys. They’re often future villains who stab the protagonist in the back before becoming even more evil. Yet, not every traitor is a villain, or at least, they aren’t villains simply because they’ve betrayed someone.
After all, some have great reasons as to why they’ve betrayed their friends, organizations, or countries. They may have been tricked, mistreated, or put in grave danger because of the company they keep. If so, they’re justified in wanting out. Here are some video game betrayers who had viable reasons for turning their backs on people.
In GTA 4, Mikhail Faustin and Dimitri Rascalov are Russian mobsters who give the protagonist Niko multiple missions during the game. The two have a bit of a dysfunctional relationship. Mikhail is the overly angry and often drugged-up boss, while Dimitri is his smarter and much calmer second-in-command.
At one point, an angry Mikhail orders a hit on a man named Lenny Petrovic, who is the son of another mobster. He does this because he thinks Lenny is a snitch, even though he has no proof. Fearing a gang war in the aftermath, Dimitri asks Niko to kill Mikhail. It likely had to be done, or else a war would’ve broken out, and Dimitri himself likely would’ve been eliminated. Dimitri’sfamous betrayalof Niko was less justified.
Metal Gear Solid 3 features Naked Snake (aka Big Boss), embarking on an important mission on behalf of the US Government. That mission is to bring down his mentor, The Boss, who has betrayed the United States. After doing so, he finds out that she didn’t really betray her country.
This was all an elaborate plan to have The Boss go undercover in the evil Colonel Volgin’s crew. Yet, when she joins Volgin’s side, she gives him a warhead as a peace offering, which he then fires at a Russian research facility, and the Soviet Leader isn’t happy about it. To prove that America wasn’t responsible, they have Snake eliminate The Boss, and she is on board with it. So, Snake is tricked by the Government into killing someone he cares deeply for. Therefore, it’s no surprise that he turns his back on America after that.
Somevideo game villains have understandable motives, but Frau Engel isn’t one of them. The woman is pure evil. Even in a game like Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, which is filled with Nazis, she still stands out as the cruelest of them all. So, of course, the Nazi General isn’t a loving mother.
She continually verbally and sometimes physically abuses her daughter, Sigrun. She also invades her privacy by reading her diary and mocks her for it. Frau also attempts to force Sigrun to decapitate a member of the resistance despite her daughter being horrified by the idea. Eventually, Sigrun stops her mother from cutting the head off of another resistance member and joins the resistance herself.
The story of Injustice revolves around Superman becoming a dictator after Lois Lane’s death and Metropolis’s destruction. He builds a regime to keep people in line, essentially keeping peace through control. Many superheroes join his side, including The Flash.
However, during the game, Superman starts to get more out of control. This leads to Shazam questioning the former hero. In response, Superman brutally kills him. This is the final straw for The Flash, and he instantly leaves the regime and begins fighting against it. It’s hard to fault him for this, as not only is Shazam a friend, but he’s also technically a child.
At the start of Assassin’s Creed Rogue, Assassin Shay Cormac does his duty and takes some powerful artifacts away from the evil organization known as the Templars. However, this creates some problems, namely a huge Earthquake in Lisbon that kills plenty of innocent people.
Shay feels tremendous guilt for this and partially blames the Assassins for sending him on the mission to retrieve the artifact in the first place. As a result, he becomes disillusioned with the Brotherhood and leaves them. Before that, though, he attempts to steal their Voynich Manuscript, which shows them the locations of other artifacts. He believes they will cause further catastrophes and hurt innocent people just to get their hands on those artifacts. Even if you love the Assassins, it’s easy to see Shay’s point of view on this one.
Haze isa very much forgotten shooterthat stars a soldier named Shane Carpenter. He fights for the Mantel Corporation, which rules the world. They give their soldiers a special drug called Nectar that makes them stronger and smarter. Throughout the game, Shane uses these advantages to kill plenty of rebels. In the process, he begins to see random flashes of brutal and violent scenes.
He later finds out that this is due to his Nectar not being administered properly. See, not only does the drug give a power boost, but it is also a hallucinogen that forces the soldiers to see a more idyllic world and hides the true brutality of what they’re doing. Once that veil is lifted, Shane realizes he’s been lied to, and the Mantel Corporation is the true villain, not the rebels, like he’s been led to believe. So, he joins the rebellion and takes on the Mantel Corporation.
2Shadowheart Leaves Shar
Baldur’s Gate 3
Since Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game with plenty of choices, Shadowheart’s arc doesn’t always go down like this, nor is she guaranteed to leave Shar.
From early in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s clear how much Shadowheart worships the goddess known as Shar. She is a loyal follower at the start, despite having her memories restricted and being forced to feel incredible pain when she strays from Shar’s teachings. Those things alone would be enough for a justified betrayal, but things go even deeper.
When Shadowheart starts to get her memory back, she realizes that she was actually kidnapped by Sharrans and manipulated into joining their cause. On top of that, they actually captured her parents and held them for many years. At the end of her arc, Shadowheart can fully turn her back on Shar and kill a bunch of Sharrans in the process.
The antagonist faction of Saints Row: The Third is a group of gangs known collectively as The Syndicate. Phillipe Loren initially leads them, but once he dies, a large man named Killbane takes over.
Also a part of the organization are the twins known as Viola and Kiki DeWynter. They don’t really get along with the Killbane, and at the end of one fiesty encounter between them, the big brute picks Kiki up and snaps her neck. He shows no remorse for doing so, as he feels like he only needs one of the twins alive. Naturally, the murder of her sister leads to Viola leaving the Syndicate and joining their enemies, The Saints.
